My brother and SIL are having a war with their well-meaning but dunb as rocks neighbors right now over the neighbor’s cat farm.
Neighbors have about 70 feral cats that are breeding rapidly. My brother’s little girl can’t play in her sandbox, the cats have pooped and peeded so much in it. As you probably know, cats carry ringworms and other diseases.
My SIL loves her flowerbeds and veggie garden, but she can’t have one for the cats peeing and pooping, killing them. One ripped my brother’s arm up after it ran in his house and he grabbed it to put it out.
My brother has given this cat loving neighbor TWO years to do something about the cats. Neighbor has failed to act, and the cats shredded the top on my brother’s convertible. So my brother is now trapping cats and giving them to the local shelter. Another neighbor has turned over 40 cats, and my brother has caught about 20.
When the shelter folks came to get the first trapped cats the dumb neighbor raised cain, said she’d use her credit card to get them out. For some reason, she’s too stupid to use her credit card to have the cats SPAYED and neutered.
The neighbor claims she has a right to have as many cats as she wants. She apparently thinks my brother and other neighbors don’t have any rights on their own property.
You have stated the exact reason cats should not be allowed to run free.
In addition to ringworm, cats' feces carry pin worms which invade a child's intestine and rectum. WORSE, if a child gets this on his/her hand and puts said hand into said child's mouth, other parasites (I can't remember the name of the parasite.) can do extreme damage to said child's brain.
Nope.
Cat traps are the answer to feral cats. Responsible owners are the answer to domesticated cats.